Camel - Raindances - 1977 (24/96 Vinyl Rip)

Review:

http://www.allmusic.com/album/r3169

Doug Ferguson left Camel after "Moonmadness", and marked the ending of the first version of the band.
He was replaced by none other than Richard Sinclair, who was one of the key-figures in the Canterbury genre of progressive rock.
Another new feature in the band was the saxophone and flute of Mel Collins, who first was only a guest musician on "Rain Dances".
Sinclair's influence on the band was felt immediately. Not only did he sing on three of the four songs with vocals, but the music had
also taken a turn toward a jazzier and less symphonic side than before.

But the key-elements of the classic Camel-sound was still in place, and personally I rate "Rain Dances" as their last classic 70's album.
The instrumental opener "First Light" is one of the finest themes the band wrote, and Collin's saxophone fits well into the sound.
"Metrognome" starts as a light and poppy song dominated by Sinclair's characteristic voice, but turns quickly into complex instrumental
passages with some superb guitar work from Latimer. "Tell Me" is an atmospheric and beautiful song full of delicious flute from Collins.
However, "Highways of the Sun" was a terrible mistake. OK, so the band was probably under a lot of pressure from Decca to make a hit-song,
but that's still no excuse for making it as bad as this.

Fortunately, the rest of the album is more than good enough to make it forgivable. The second side starts with one of the definitive highlights
in form of "Unevensong". It starts as a quirky and catchy song that leads into more complex instrumental parts before finally stabilizing itself
into a melodic theme of the classic Camel kind. The rest of the album is entirely instrumental, and continues with the urban and jazzy
"One of These Early Days I'll get an Early Night" that showed a new side of the band. "Elke" featured a guest appearance by Brian Eno,
and that meant of course lots of atmospheric and spacey synths. "Skylines" is in a similar style to "Lunar Sea" from the previous album,
and the record closes with the short and really beautiful title-track. (Vintageprog.com)


Track List:

01 First Light
02 Metrognome
03 Tell Me
04 Highways Of The Sun

05 Unevensong
06 One Of These Days I'll Get An Early Night
07 Elke
08 Skylines
09 Rain Dances